


The Bat

by meyari



Series: Tim Drake: Demon Hunter [4]
Category: DCU (Comics)
Genre: Demonic Possession, Exorcisms, Gen, Serious Injuries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-10
Updated: 2013-07-10
Packaged: 2017-12-18 08:49:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,944
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/877926
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meyari/pseuds/meyari
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Tim Drake was seven, he received a present from his parents: A tiny gold Bodhisattva figure. He loved it because they gave it to him but when he was ten it became much more. After a near-death experience the Bodhisattva figure opened up a whole new world for Tim, one where he had the potential to right wrongs, save people and banish demons that caused the world pain.</p>
<p>Bruce Wayne dedicated his entire life to the Mission, no matter what the cost. After firing Dick for pulling away from the mission, he is startled to find a young teen in the Cave. Tim Drake isn't a threat until he sets his hand on Bruce's chest and reveals the Bat that has lived within Bruce's soul for decades.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Bat

Bruce grunted in response to Alfred's attempt at conversation. He didn't listen what Alfred said. The litany of 'it's better this way', 'you need to focus on the mission', and 'loneliness is weak and Batman must never be weak' cycling through his head drove out everything else.

Three weeks wasn't long enough for Bruce to have gotten used to Dick's absence. The bone-deep fear of Dick's death had been justified. Dick took too many risks. He'd gotten cocky. Firing him was the only logical response to Dick's actions.

_"He's my son. I shouldn't have thrown him out."_ Bruce shook his head as he sat down in front of the computers.

No, thinking of Dick as his son was the illogical thought. There was only one proper response to failing to perform properly. Dick had failed. He had pulled away from the mission. Bruce hadn't had any other option but to cut him out of his life. The ache in his heart was just a symptom of the weakness that Dick had introduced into Bruce. If he had allowed Dick to stay any longer then Bruce would have become sentimental, faulty.

The Mission came first. It always came first. Ever since his parents' death Bruce had devoted himself to being strong enough for the Mission. Nothing could come between him and what he needed to do.

Bruce pushed the cowl back, distantly aware of the stubble on his cheeks, the sweat in his hair. There was an ache inside his heart that made him want to howl but that wasn't something he could do. The pain would fade. Every pain faded in time. He'd learned that years ago, though certain pains seemed to come back on a regular basis. The ache of his parents' loss was never-ending.

"Well, that won't do at all."

The boyish voice made Bruce whirl and stare. A young boy, perhaps twelve years old and skinny enough to look a couple of years younger, stood by the tunnel that led to the sea shore. As Bruce stood, hands curling into fists, the boy frowned and shook his head sadly. Despite Bruce glaring at him, the boy calmly walked closer until he was standing in easy arm's reach of Bruce.

"How did you get in here?" Bruce growled.

"I'm surprised that you've survived this long," the boy said. "You're in so much pain."

"Who are you?" Bruce snapped. "How did you find the entrance? What do you want? Who's paying you?"

His voice rose as nightmare scenarios rose in his mind of his rouge's gallery paying the boy off to find his Cave. The boy stared at him entirely too calmly. When Bruce grabbed the boy's shoulder there was a rising screech in his mind that almost seemed to come from somewhere, someone, else. Bruce started, began to pull his hand back and then froze when the boy reached out to put his hand in the center of Bruce's chest.

"You can call me Taishakuten," the boy said. "I am sorry. This will hurt rather more than normal for an exorcism but you've carried the demon for so many years that it's dug into your soul more deeply than most."

Bruce opened his mouth to say 'what?' but Taishakuten's eyes began to glow. The screeching in his mind took on a tone of terror that made Bruce's breath catch and his knees weaken. He collapsed to his knees in front of the boy, clinging to the boy's dark blue sweater. As Bruce shook and tried to breath, the glow in the boy's eyes intensified.

Taishakuten grew, changing from a boy of perhaps twelve to a severe young man with glowing hair that shifted and moved around the two of them. Bruce could see his lips moving, hear something that sounded like chanting but it was so distant that he couldn't make out what Taishakuten was saying.

Instead he heard the voice of the Bat, the voice he tried to emulate when he was on the streets.

"No! You cannot do this! He chose me. He took me in willingly! This is my host, my home, my food! You do not get to take him away!"

The growl of the Bat tore something inside of Bruce. Possessed. Taishakuten had said that he was possessed. The Bat wasn't his way of dealing with the loss of his parents. It was something else, something foreign that had possessed Bruce. As he tried to process that, the pain rose and rose until it was agony unlike anything he'd ever experienced before.

Bruce wailed, his head going back as he stared up at the ceiling of the Cave. Seven, he had been seven. The ground had given out underneath him and he'd fallen so far. His leg had snapped on landing, leaving Bruce lying in the dust, surrounded by the squeak and rustle of bats.

He panted, screaming as the pain inside increased even further. Bruce was being torn apart. It hurt worse than any of his wounds over the years, worse than being shot or stabbed or breaking bones. Taishakuten's hand was warm and powerful against Bruce's chest. His voice got louder as the pain increased, as if he was using it to wrestle with the demon inside of Bruce.

"Demon!" Bruce shouted, screamed, wailed against the pain and the memories, the loss and fear and puddle of blood that had gathered under his seven year old leg.

The darkness had crept closer to Bruce as voices called from above. He'd called back, begged them to hurry, admitted that he'd been afraid. All the while the shadow had moved when there was no shift in the source of light. It had crept into his puddle of blood, darkening it to black before slipping dark and dangerous onto Bruce's leg no matter how hard Bruce batted his hands at it. He hadn't dared do much, too afraid of the bats squeaking around him and the pain in his leg.

When his father had been lowered into the Cave, his lantern had made the shadow flee, or at least Bruce had thought it had. He panted, realizing now that the fears that had haunted him after that day had been as much because of the voice in the back of his head as the memories of lying in a pool of blood while bats flew around him.

"Inside," Bruce moaned. "It was... it was inside me!"

Taishakuten's face went sympathetic and gentle but the power of his voice rose until the Bat's wails of fear and outrage were drowned out. As the Bat quieted, fled, was driven out, Bruce's pain began to fall for the first time in forever. He stared at Taishakuten's face, seeing both the boy and the Bodhisattva that dwelled inside of him.

"You..." Bruce found that he couldn't say anything.

His throat sealed up, fear and loss and pain and the rage of the Bat making words impossible. Bruce tried to swallow, tried to breathe, tried to move but he was caught between the Bat and Taishakuten's power, suspended like a fly caught in the spider's web.

_"Om,"_ Bruce thought as he tried to visualize the Buddha statues he'd seen in the Far East.

The Buddha's serene smile, mostly closed eyes and aquiline nose appeared in Bruce's face. His throat loosened enough that Bruce gasped for breath.

_"Om,"_ Bruce prayed, his breathing strengthening as Taishakuten's voice became a thundering roar around him.

All around them the bats screamed, flying in a tornado around the two of them. In the distance Bruce heard Alfred shouting something, heard the shunk-clunk of a shotgun. He held out one hand, fisting it in the symbol for 'stop' because he couldn't turn his head, couldn't speak, couldn't do anything other than pray to the Buddha for help as Taishakuten ripped the Bat out of his soul.

"Master Bruce?"

_"Om…"_ Bruce prayed, focusing all his thoughts and energies on the mantra he'd learned in Tibet rather than on Taishakuten or the Bat or even the pain ripping his soul apart _"Mani… padme… hum… Om Mani Padme Hum. Om Mani Padme Hum!"_

The pain abruptly disappeared into a wave of relief, freedom, joy the likes of which Bruce hadn't felt for decades. Taishakuten's face went triumphant. His glowing hair surrounded them both for a moment before abruptly there was only Bruce kneeling on the hard stone floor of the Cave with a young boy leaning against his chest while laughing breathlessly.

"Good job," the boy said between gasps for air. "I don't think I would have been able to save you if you hadn't started praying too."

"You're... not Taishakuten," Bruce said. He caught the boy's elbows. "Who are you?"

"Timothy Drake," the boy said, smiling wryly. It took him a moment to gather the strength to stand on his own. "Did you realize that your Manor is filled with ghosts and demons?"

"...no?" Bruce said. "Drake? Jack and Janet Drake's son? How...?"

Tim's face took on the Buddha's serenity coupled with Taishakuten's patience. He shrugged one shoulder, turning to smile calmly at Alfred who still had his shotgun at the ready. This time when Bruce waved for Alfred to stand down, he did, though he didn't take his finger off the trigger.

"I could explain," Tim offered. "It's kind of a long story."

Bruce dragged himself to his feet, shaking with exhaustion. For the first time since he sent Dick away, Bruce was aware of his body odor, of the hunger making his belly ache. He was tired, sore and desperately in need of a shower. Food was an urgent priority, sleep not too far after that.

"I'd like that," Bruce said. "Alfred, can you prepare a late dinner for us? I think... I think there are several stories that need to be told. And... I need to call Dick."

The stunned joy on Alfred's face lasted for several seconds before it was shuttered behind Alfred's habitually calm British exterior. He smiled, more widely than Bruce could remember seeing in years, as he took his finger off the trigger.

"I would be most happy to, Master Bruce," Alfred said. "Would it be appropriate to call Master Drake's parents to say that he's here?"

"No, that's not necessary," Tim said, his cheeks going bright red. "They're out of town. But um, if you could let Mrs. Mac know that I was sleepwalking and ended up here that would help. She checks on me several times a night and I ah, slipped out after it got dark and she went to bed."

"Several stories," Bruce chuckled. "Go with Alfred, Tim. I've got to shower before we have our talk."

Tim's smile was young and bright as he nodded. Bruce could see Taishakuten's power in his walk even though Tim's body was far too fragile to hold the Bodhisattva's full strength as of yet. Alfred nodded to Bruce before leading Tim upstairs, quietly inquiring as to what Tim preferred for late night snacks.

When Bruce looked around the Cave, his mind was silent, still. There was no voice growling about the Mission. He still hurt but it wasn't the active pain he'd felt before. Instead, it was a distant ache, the pain of loved ones long gone and memories of times that were better. Bruce rubbed the bat on his chest, laughing quietly.

"Free..."

Bruce smiled as he started taking off the Batsuit. A shower, some food and a long discussion with Tim and Alfred seemed like a very good place to start. For the first time in decades he felt as though he had hope and the freedom to live his life.


End file.
